The instrument of mathematics enrolment choice motivation (MECM) is designed to measure factors that influence students' decisions to keep or drop mathematics in Year 11. Using survey responses from 289 Year 11 students, this paper presents the initial form of the instrument, examines its factor structure, internal consistency and discriminant…

Although research on racial identity in relation to educational outcomes has expanded in recent years, little is known how it interacts with other constructs that influence achievement. The present study examined the relationship among the components of racial identity (centrality, private regard, and public regard) and sense of belonging on the…

Traditionally, the domain of higher education, the 'flipped classroom' is gaining in popularity in secondary school settings. In the flipped classroom, digital technologies are used to shift direct instruction from the classroom to the home, providing students with increased autonomy over their learning. While advocates of the approach believe it…

Student self-concept of math ability (SCMA) and math utility value shape course-taking patterns, achievement, and entree into mathematics-intensive college majors (Eccles & Wigfield, 2005). The development of SCMA and math utility value are embedded in social contexts (Marsh et al., 2005). School racial climate is a particularly important…

A structural model suggesting complex causal interrelationships among eight variables which contribute to variance in student learning is described. The variables include mother's and father's educational level; Relaxed Test Comfort Score; Specific Math Comfort Score; Attitudinal Continuing Motivation Score; Behavioral Continuing Motivation Score;…

The recent concern with industrial achievement has reinforced a growing tendency to be concerned with educational achievement. This study, the first in a series, examined whether or not student motivation made a unique contribution to achievement that could be separated from other factors known or thought to contribute to student achievement such…

Goal orientations in high school students may be grouped into learning (e.g., mastery) and performance (e.g., grades, competition) goals. Past research on students' goals is reviewed. Students' motivation for achievement is complex. Given the importance of fostering and strengthening learning goal orientations in high school as well as in college,…

Until writing researchers understand how students respond to teacher marking techniques in composition, they risk prescribing strategies that waste teachers' instructional time. For this reason a study with a participant/observation methodology was conducted to describe and interpret student responses to writing instruction methods. The five-month…

A total of 199 students from a school in Hong Kong responded to 25 items in a survey. Principal components analysis found four school motivation factors consistent with the Task, Effort, Competition and Praise scales of the McInerney, et al. (1997) Inventory of School Motivation, one education aspiration factor and one career aspiration factor.…

Whether there were differences in motivational and learning environment perceptions of students selected based on their performance on the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) was studied over 3 years in a public school district in Texas. The degree to which affective elements of student behavior varied according to their success on this…

Descriptive data were collected from male and female students in grades 7, 9, and 11 on five learner attributes commonly reported as influencing student learning and/or motivation: desire for approval of others, attribution of success or failure, desire for challenge in academic settings, perceived self-competence in school settings, and locus of…